Shares in John Menzies take a dive

SHARES in John Menzies crashed 28 per cent after the airport services and newspaper distribution group issued a profit ­warning.

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Thu, Nov 6, 2014

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John Menzies is one of the largest airport services providers

It warned full-year profits at Menzies Aviation will be “materially” below expectations prompting the “immediate” exit of boss Craig Smyth.

The company said in August that Smyth had resigned but did not ­disclose his departure date. It now said he would exit with “immediate effect”.

The division, which provides passenger and cargo handling services, has been experiencing problems during the redevelopment of Heathrow. These problems partially relate to British Airways carrying out more of its own ground handling.

John Menzies said: “The significant changes at ­Heathrow have reduced margins which will continue into next year.”

The newspaper and ­magazine distribution part of the group is performing better. It said: “Overall sales values from both the ­magazine and newspaper categories are better than anticipated and cost-reduction initiatives remain on track.” Shares fell 136¾p to 350p.